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Today's Prices (Thu pm)


CME LIVESTOCK:  Live Cattle: $175.375 (+0.05); Feeder Cattle: $242.55 (+2.275); Hogs: $10270 (-0.025)


CME GRAINS:   Corn: $4.2675 (-0.035); Wheat: $5.3675 (+0.0025); Soybeans: $11.3425 (-0.1525); Soybean Meal: $338.00 (-0.70)

STOCK UPDATE:    Dow 30: 37,775.38 (+22.07); Nasdaq: 15,601.50 (-81.87); S&P 500: 5,011.12 (-11.09) (Stocks Give Up Early Gains And Are Now In The Red)


ENERGY PRICES:   Crude Oil: $82.74 (+0.05); Ethanol: $1.6625 (+0.00); Natural Gas: $1.739 (+0.027) (Nat-Gas Prices Rise as Weekly EIA Inventories Climb Less Than Expected)


BOXED BEEF:   Choice: $295.80 (-1.01); Select: $289.27 (-1.61); Ch/Se Spread: 6.53; Total Loads: 143 compared to 123 on Wednesday


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To view the most recent prices and news, please visit the U.S. Cattle Report Channel.

 

Highlights (Cattle Report Channel)

  1.  CME Live Cattle: $175.375 (+0.05); Feeder Cattle: $242.55 (+2.275);  Corn: $4.2675 (-0.035) 
  2. CORN PROGRESS: Six percent (6%) of the corn in the United States had been planted by April 14th, compared to 3% last week and 7% last year
  3.  RTI (7-Day Feeder Cattle Index):  $241.86  (-0.83)
  4. AMARILLO:  Sunny, with a high near 67. Breezy, with a north wind 20 to 25 mph  (THU)
  5. Boxed beef down $1.01 on Thu to $295.80
  6. CATTLE TRADE:  Cash sales at a standstill
  7. COT:  Funds decrease net long position by 16.3K to 36.9K contracts
  8. BEEF EXPORTS:  Beef sales up 30% to 17.7K mt
  9. Thursday cattle slaughter at 118K head, WTD up 5K
  10. Daily drop unch on Thursday at $11.69
  11. DROUGHT MONITOR:  38.62% of Contiguous U.S. in drought compared to 38.39 % last week and 46.521% last year 
  12. Gas prices down up 4 cents this week to $3.63, down $0.04 from last year
  13. Diesel prices down 4 cents this week to $4.02, down $0.10 from last year
  14. CATTLE ON FEED:  Inventory up 1%;  Placements up 10%
  15. Beef production down 1.4% from last week, cattle weights up 40 lbs from last year
  16. NATURAL GAS:   Henry Hub down 38 cents to $1.50

Severe Thunderstorms Likely Across the Ozarks and Lower Ohio Valley   (THU)  

Severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging wind gusts, large hail, and a few tornadoes, are likely to develop this afternoon from parts of the lower Ohio Valley into the southern Plains. An Enhanced Risk (Level 3 of 5) outlook has been issued. Further north, widespread rain showers are expected across portions of the Great Lakes and Northeast U.S. 

CATTLE TRADE:  Cash trade at a standstill

Thus far for Thursday the Southern Plains and Nebraska negotiated has been at a standstill. In the Western Cornbelt negotiated cash has been mostly inactive on very light demand. Last week in the Southern Plains live FOB purchases traded at 182.00. Last week in Nebraska live FOB purchases traded at 184.00 while dressed delivered purchases traded at 293.00. Last week in the Western Cornbelt live FOB purchases traded at 185.00 and dressed delivered purchases mostly at 293.00.

CATTLE ON FEED:  Inventory up 1%;  Placements up 10%

Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.8 million head on March 1, 2024. The inventory was 1 percent above March 1, 2023.   Placements in feedlots during February totaled 1.89 million head, 10 percent above 2023. Placements were the highest for February since the series began in 1996. Net placements were 1.83 million head. During February, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 360,000 head, 600-699 pounds were 330,000 head, 700-799 pounds were 515,000 head, 800-899 pounds were 485,000 head, 900-999 pounds were 150,000 head, and 1,000 pounds and greater were 50,000 head.

NATIONAL DROUGHT MONITOR

The southern High Plains are in the grips of rapidly drying conditions, leading to degradations across Kansas, with conditions bleeding into eastern Colorado and southern Nebraska. Western Kansas has not seen precipitation in over two weeks, providing no relief to the rapidly drying soils and low streamflows. Conditions in Kansas into Oklahoma are seeing rapid deterioration and short-term dryness indicating flash drought conditions.

U.S. EXPORT SALES:  Beef sales up 30%

Net sales of 17,700 MT for 2024 were up 30 percent from the previous week and 27 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were primarily for South Korea (5,400 MT, including decreases of 400 MT), China (3,600 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), Japan (2,800 MT, including decreases of 300 MT), Taiwan (2,100 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), and Mexico (1,800 MT, including decreases of 100 MT). Exports of 16,700 MT--a marketing-year high--were up 21 percent from the previous week and 20 percent from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were primarily to Japan (4,700 MT), South Korea (4,600 MT), China (2,800 MT), Mexico (1,400 MT), and Taiwan (900 MT).Weekly Beef Production Down 1.4%, Cattle Weights Up 40 Pounds From Last Year

Weekly beef production is estimated at 509.8 million pounds, down 1.4% from last week and up 2.0% from last year. Year to date beef production stands at 7.48 billion pounds, down 3.5% from last year.   Weekly cattle slaughter is estimated at 603,000 head, down 1.6% from last week and down 1.3% from last year. Year to date cattle slaughter is at 8.9 million head, down 5.1% from last year.

Livestock Comments:  Dr. Andrew Griffith

There is a good chance the futures market will trade higher and lower than it is today before each of the contracts expires, but what a producer does to capture an acceptable price is the key aspect. Most producers are concerned about the specific time of year in which they market cattle. For instance, many who marketed cattle at local auctions this week were likely disappointed prices declined compared to last week for feeder cattle. The cash price decline should come as no surprise, because the April feeder cattle futures price has declined about $15 per hundred-weight over the past three weeks. 

CATTLE SLAUGHTHER:   Thursday slaughter at 118K head, compared to 124K last week and 128K last year. WTD slaughter at 487K head, compared to 482K last week and 505K last year

THE BEEF READ:   Slow and Unsure... The open interest drop has stopped this week, an indication that the get-me-out selling is over. Yet, there seems to be waning confidence on just how much futures can regain of the $16 lost since March 14. For now, the 100-day moving average is stopping advances in most active June LC (THE BEEF)

DAILY DROP:   The hide and offal value was estimated at $11.69, unch from Wednesday

Rob Cook, RobCookKC@gmail.com